Posted at 9:00 a.m.
PHOTO LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES NATION
Page one of the La Presse sports book of March 30, 1991. Guy Lafleur file
When I left the CJMS studios last night, I had spent two hours with Guy Lafleur, Pierre Bouchard, Yvan Cournoyer, Yvon Lambert, Gilles Lupien, Mario Tremblay, Rocky Brisebois, of Maurice Filion, of Jacques Demers, of Jean Perron, of Georges-Hébert Germain… and I had no story.
However, John Ziegler and Brian Mulroney, Scotty Bowman and Marcel Aubut had spoken to Lafleur by telephone…
Leaving the building, in the cool of this spring waiting for Lafleur to leave to play baseball, I noticed a big black limousine. The limo waiting for Lafleur.
But I had no history. At least not the kind of story one can draw from such a tribute.
With a leader taken from a statement by Jean Perron. With a knot drawn from anecdotes told by his former teammates and with a conclusion reminiscent of the two weekend parties at the Forum and the Colosseum.
No story because this tribute turned into a party of love and pleasure like this retreat like Quebec has never known.
Nobody has managed to define what charisma is. All we know is that some have it, some don’t. Guy Lafleur has charisma, Steve Shutt doesn’t. The proof is that I forgot to tell you that Shutt came to spend the two hours with his former teammate.
No one has been able to figure out what makes a star either. Much less a superstar. Otherwise, all the movie producers and TV channel bosses would know where to look for their big stars. Guy Lafleur is a superstar. That’s all.
But Lafleur has charisma. But Lafleur is a superstar. But Guy Lafleur is more. Why has this devil of a man been able to make people happy for over 20 years? Why is the love it arouses great enough to make an entire people celebrate? Who can boast of having made poets of the thousands of Quebecers who wrote to The Press ?
Lafleur is Lafleur because he is vulnerable. Lafleur was never perceived as a superman. On the contrary, he will have been the most manly of our stars. So vulnerable that all the vulnerable in the world could find themselves in him.
The weak loved his weakness when it was Ti-Guy’s weakness. The loser loved his loss when it was Lafleur’s loss. The naive loved his naivety when it was Flower’s naivety. The sinner loved his sins when it was the sins of the blond Demon.
It was his return that wiped out the Lafleur Falls. Before the return, Lafleur had been an extraordinary hockey player and a sensitive man who had tripped over the mat several times.
We would have remembered this great player and the true and vulnerable man.
But when he came out of this retirement where he had been buried at the age of 33, he ignited the imagination of all of Quebec. He was coming back to do himself justice. To him, just to him. Not to settle scores with Ronald Corey or Serge Savard, for his own pleasure. To be able to leave as he will leave tomorrow evening. In joy and love.
Why such a people’s party? Maybe because we have the chance to celebrate when there is still time.
Which Quebecers have thrilled the nation the most over the past 25 years? René Lévesque, Félix Leclerc and Guy Lafleur and I don’t think I’m wrong.
René and Félix died before we really had time to dance at their party. With Ti-Guy, we have this chance and we will not miss it.
If only Ronald Corey would take three steps down the red carpet to shake hands with Lafleur. So that fans who love the Canadian and who adore Lafleur feel “reconciled” in their loves.
A handshake, Ronald and the roof of the Forum explodes!